Recently much emphasis has been placed on laminating adhesives, particularly those involving water insoluble polymer, e.g. vinyl polymers, systems which are prepared by emulsion polymerization. There are, however, problems incident to these adhesives, some of which result from the presence of residual surfactant in the resulting composition.
In general, emulsion polymerizations of water insoluble polyesters are well known and involve an emulsifying mixture containing an emulsifying agent, a water insoluble monomer and an inert dispersing liquid in which the monomer is insoluble. The emulsifier maintains the non-agglomerating suspension of monomer and provides a site where polymerization of monomer globules takes place. However, in the course of polymerization small amounts of the emulsifying agent becomes entrapped in the polymeric product, thus presenting problems of subsequent leaching and instability during storage. Additionally, many of these emulsifiers in residual amount cause discoloration on subsequent use.
Moreover, since many of the substrates which are commonly coated with these adhesives are difficult to wet due to their low surface energies, it is generally necessary to post add a surfactant to the adhesive to facilitate wetting of the surface prior to forming the adhesive coat.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to overcome the above problems by an economical and commercially feasible process using an improved emulsifying agent.
Another object of this invention is to provide novel compounds having excellent surfactant properties.
Still another object is to provide a process for the manufacture of said novel compounds.
These and many other objects of the invention will become apparent from the following description and disclosure.